Welt-shoe.



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APPLICATION FILED JULY 31.1916.

y 1 ,1 99,222. Paten-ted Sept. 26, 1916.

` nnwannoarnaeunor WINCHESTER,MASSACHUSETTS,

" i WELT-stron.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD O. TEAGUE, a citizen of the United States, residing at lVinchester, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Welt-Shoes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to shoes having a. welt secured to the innersoleand the upper by metal fastenings passed directly therethrough, instead of by stitches as in the Goodyear welt shoe.

The object of the present invention is two-fold: first, to increase the flexibility of the shoe` and, second, to prevent the loosening of the fastenings and thus causing the shoe to grin along its sides at the welt crease. This object is accomplished by slashing the inner edge of the welt between the fastenings along the sides of the shoe in the zone of the ball of the foot, though of course the slashing could, if desired, be eX- tended along the entire length of the Welt.

On the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 shows in plan View the bottom of a partially formed shoe in which the welt has been secured in place. Fig. 2, illustrates in cross section a shoe embodying the invention.

In Fig. 1, the partially formed shoe is shown as including the innersole a, the upper Z), the lining c, and the welt d, provided with the narrow reinforce e of frictioned fabric. The welt is secured to the upper, lining and innersole by tacks, staples or other independent or separate metallic fastenings f, which are passed through the reinforced portion thereof; and clenched against the inner face of the inner sole.

The fastenings are spaced apart as shown, and, because of the rigidity with which they secure the welt to the parts referred to, the completed shoe is relatively stiff and iniiexible. And, because of the relative necessary thickness of the Welt, it sometimes happens that in wear the fastenings are successively loosened` causing the welt crease to open. I therefore provide the welt with a series of slits g, which extend from the inner edge outwardly a short dista-nce, so as to provide a plurality of independent tabs t. Through each of these tabs a fastening f is passed, so that along the sides of the ball of the shoe, at least, the Welt has a continuous exposed outer portion, but is secured to the upper and the innersole by separate tabs,

specification of Letters Patent. Pam/umd Sept, 26, 1991@ Application led July 31, 1916. Serial No. 112,231.

one for each fastening. As a result, the holding strength of each of the fasteners is greatlyv increased, since the accidental loosening of one fastening, due perhaps to imperfect clenching, does not permit the welt to bend and by its stiffness loosen the adjacent fastenings.

The slashing or slitting of the welt to form each tab'may be accomplished just before or after each fastener is set therein, or it can be slashed between the fasteners after they have all been set, and the slashing may be performed manually or automatically as desired. In fact, the machine, employed for driving the fastenings, may be provided with a cutter arranged to slash the weit as the fastening is set, so as to insure the proper width of the tabs and the location of the fastenings in the center of the tabs. Care should be taken that the slits are not long enough to extend laterally beyond the upper in the welt crease. W' here a narrow reinforce, as at e, is employed, the slits may extend across, or just short of the outer edge of, the same. While I have shown but one fastener for each tab, more than one could be used therewith. The slits are located where the greatest iiexibility of the shoe is required inwalking, namely, in the transverse lines of the ball, but they may be located in the shank and at the toe as well.

'In the completed shoe, the sole It is stitched to the welt, as in the Goodyear welt shoe, and

prising an upper, an innersole, a Welt having tabs along its inner edge, and independent fastenings passed through the innersole, Aupper and tabs of the welt.

2. A shoe of the character described, comprising an upper, an innersole, and a Welt, said welt being slit laterally from the inner edge outwardly along the sides of the shoe to form separate tabs, and metallic fastenings passing through said tabsand through the upper into the innersole;

3. A shoe of the character described, comprising an upper, an innersole, and a welt,y said welt. being slit laterally from the inner edge outwardly along the sides of the shoe to form separate talos, and metallic fastenings passing vthrough said tabs and through the upper into the innersole, the slits termifastenings securing said Welt, upper and innoting short of the Welt crease whereby the nersole together, said Welt and the reinforce exposed portion of the Welt is continuous. being slit laterally from the inner edge be- 10 4. A shoe of the character described, comtween each adjacent pair of fastenings. 5 prising an upper, an 'innerso1e, a We1t,a fab- In testimony whereof I have aixed my ric reinforcing strip along the inner marsignature. ginal portion of the Welt, and independent EDWARD O. TEAGUE.' 

